Forever and For Always
by hell-butterfly
Summary: She had thought that they would be together...forever and for always. But now he is going to get married. And to top that, the Alliance is in the danger of being attacked by the Sound. What will happen in the end to Shikamaru and Temari? [ShikaTema] Chapt
1. Night Before Dawn

Forever and For Always Authored by hell-butterfly 

Disclaimer: I do not own a single scrap of Naruto.

A tribute dedicated to my favourite Naruto pairing---ShikaTema. Shikamaru is to be married…and what will Temari do?

Warning-Not a happy story, and not a perfectly happy ending according to normal terms. It's my style, I'd really regret to say, to be angsty and tragic. But nevertheless, it _is_ romance.

-

CHPT. 1 The Night Before Dawn

He lay on the roof of his house, staring into the dark night sky, and pondered.

In the house, there came mingled voices of people talking happily and the sounds of furniture being moved about as the rooms were decorated…for the great event the next day.

The youngest descendant in the line of the Nara family was going to get married.

But strangely, the noises from below seemed to be oddly distant as he lay there under the night sky.

He thought, not of his bride-to-be, but of the face of another girl…the girl with eye-catching gold hair tied into four ponytails…the girl who would suddenly turn and flash that striking smile at him…the girl whom he met for the first time in the Chuunin Exam all those years ago…and whom he had thought all that long would be called as his wife…

He closed his eyes painfully as her image loomed into his mind's eye.

There was no wind that night.

-

'You have drunk too much,' Kankuro attempted yet again to pull the motionless figure up. 'I have told you, too much sake…it can drive you mad.'

She was sitting there, crouched up on the edge of the stretch of desert beyond the outskirts of the village. It had taken him quite some effort to locate her.

'I…won't.' She refused once again, rooted defiantly to the spot as her brother tried to tug her out of the posture she had maintained the whole evening. 'You do know…what I can do…now that I'm a bit dizzy…'

Kankuro felt himself start to sweat.

'Look here…' He said in a low voice, with just a touch of hesitation that she would not have picked up. 'There's…nothing you can do whatsoever, Temari…now that things are settled. It's the law of his village…and there's nothing you can do to change that…it's…something you have to accept…and you yourself said that…that you had given in to it…that you would forget all about Shika----'

'Stop there, now----I say!' Temari suddenly flared up, the eyes that had been dimmed by tears suddenly aglow by the mention of the name. She turned to face her brother, and swaying on the spot, managed to grab his wrists. Kankuro flinched. Her grip, though slightly trembling, was firm, and grimly resolute. 'I forbid you…to mention _him_…at any rate. And I…I would not return to the village tonight…I would need a little time by myself to…to gather my feelings and…steel myself…'

'But Gaara…he's worried about you…you breaking down like that…and drinking that much…'

'No,' She pushed him away lightly, and Kankuro suddenly noticed how pale she looked in the dim moonlight. 'I won't go back with you no matter what you say. Tell Gaara I'm OK…there's no need for him to worry about me…just that…I need time and space out here by myself…to make things clearer…I can take care of myself alright. No, he will understand…just…go now…'

Kankuro felt her grip on him release as she dropped her head. Very cautiously, he said in a casual manner, 'And…by all means…you…you are not going to Konoha tomorrow…to watch----'

He stopped abruptly as he saw her pale face silhouetted against the dark velvet night and illuminated ghostly in the moonlight, with the light suddenly gone out of her eyes. He was completely at a loss of what to do, what to say, when the sister he had known to be so tough and proud and ruthless, suddenly appeared to be so unimaginably vulnerable and helpless.

'Te…Temari…?' Kankuro suggested tentatively.

'How can I?' She whispered, her head down and her eyes shut. 'How can I go back…to that occasion…when I had lost him? What do I do…be sneered at by her? I don't want…I don't want to watch…watch him----'

And suddenly she broke off, her head falling onto her outstretched arms as she wept vehemently like a lost child.

The sand was splattered wet all around her feet.

There was no cloud in the sky.

-

-TO BE CONTINUED-

A/N: Hello you guys out there!(This is the longest bit of author's notes I have ever written in my 14 years of presence) I have disappeared off the Internet for a while for my big exams----and really big I mean, as they are my junior high school graduation exams oxox I could have dropped down dead from the workload and the strain TOT But luckily I did well, and am safely back on the net now, and am ready for some good fanfics LOL!

So…this is the first one I'm gonna post after it all…It's actually a rather mingled up and confused fiction with all my ideas in the past months crammed inside. I thought it would do well in several one-shots…but it's just got into me…I just want to write something nice and long after a long rest (and I don't mean it by the name of rest at all TOT). I still haven't got the facts worked out neatly, so sorry if it's a bit vague, and forgive me for bugs here and there, and perhaps it's gotta take some time to get completed (seeing that I have a mission to go on in the holidays)…so please forgive anything bumped up and creased and the like lol

I would say this chapter is more of the prologue sort, but because I hit it out rather long I'd sign it as a chapter. (Forgive the stupid chapter title please…I know it sucks but I can't think of a better thing…perhaps you can give ideas?)

On a final note, please please please read and review, I would really appreciate your views and suggestions (uh but no flamers please thx!)…Thanks

-oooh I'm so happy I'm liberated that I'm out of my senses hell butterfly


	2. Blank

Forever and For Always Authored by hell-butterfly 

Disclaimer: I do not own a single scrap of Naruto.

Note: _This form _indicates memory flashbacks.

-

Thank you everybody who has taken a little bit of their time to post a review! I'm in tears to read them off my screen TOT

I'm so sorry it took so long for this chapter to appear. The reason is that I went off traveling and doing events in several cities here in China and I didn't have time. Or to put it more clearly, I haven't had access to a computer for weeks on end! TT And now my own PC got problems with the Internet and I cannot post stuff for a long time. And perhaps I won't show up in the future because I'm going to board in senior high school which starts from Aug 25th and I hear that it's extra difficult to touch a computer there (except weekends when I can go home)…

OK guys I'm going to try my best to produce good stuff. I guess you'll have to accept OoCness because it's very hard for me to master the other characters! Just put up with it…I can't bring myself to write funny scenes…sorry…but I don't like to disappoint anybody Please please please keep following my fics …! That's all I ask of you…and please please please review! When you have time!

Off it goes…chapter 2…I still think the title sucks… o 

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CHPT. 2 Blank

'Kankuro…hasn't Temari gotten up yet?'

A worried look flashed past Kankuro's face. 'I'll go and check, Gaara…' He uttered in a low voice and quickly retreated.

Gaara looked after his retreating figure with knitted brows.

Kankuro's footsteps echoed in the empty corridor. 'Where the heck is that girl…' He said furiously to himself. 'Hasn't she had enough last night? And she's playing disappearance again…Now what would Gaara say…' Cursing slightly, he rounded the corner to Temari's room.

He raised his hand and knocked loudly on the door.

No reply.

He hammered even more loudly at the door.

'Temari! I know you had drunk too much last night and now you won't get up! Soon Kazekage-sama is going to be murderous…for God's sake, get your lazy ass off your bed, girl!'

He yelled through the door for a minute. Still no reply. Kankuro was starting to wonder whether Temari had slept so soundly that he would have to drag her out of beg and carry her down the stairs like a sack of potatoes.

Then, cursing loudly, he kicked the door open.

'The hell with…' Kankuro was in the middle of firing off at his sister when he stopped mid-sentence. The room was absolutely quiet. The reason was obvious.

The bed was empty. In fact, it appeared plainly that it had not been slept in at all.

-

When Kankuro joined Gaara minutes later, the Kazekage seemed untroubled at all by this startling piece of news. He glanced at Kankuro's shocked face and said flatly, 'I have expected this all along. She has been very emotionally unstable these days.'

Kankuro opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a ninja flying into the room and almost colliding with the doorway.

'Kazekage-sama!' The ninja, on straightening himself, exclaimed in an anxious voice. 'There is urgent information for you!' He presented a scroll to Gaara, who promptly opened it.

Kankuro eyed the messenger absented-mindedly, thinking 'What has caused this guy to be so excited?' Then, sensing the atmosphere going tense, he looked up, and saw Gaara's face change.

-

On the road from the Sand to the Leaf.

A woman with gold hair sped down the road in the direction of the Leaf.

'I can't stand this anymore…I must…I must see him one last time…even though it means farewell forever…'

Temari's eyes stung.

The distance to the Leaf was rapidly shortening.

All of a sudden, Temari halted in her tracks. In a second she had flashed into the bushes.

With the aptness of a ninja she had sensed the presence of the enemy…and a condensing killing intent in the air.

Someone harbouring evil intentions is approaching the Leaf…planning something not to be told…and perhaps, and very probably, more than just one person is aimed towards the Leaf…

There was a gentle rustle in the leaves. With incomparable agility and speed Temari had whipped her fan open and leapt into the air.

-

Shikamaru sat staring out of the window with his fingers crossed. The sunlight was too dazzling and it hurt his eyes. He blinked absentmindedly.

Dust rose from the ground and swirled in the morning breeze…glimmering in the sunlight…tainted yellow and gold, fluttering, beckoning…smiling…

Memories rushed past like torrents, flooding his view with a golden glow… The outrageous hairstyle… The childlike smile… The teases and taunts… The days on the hillside, or somewhere at the sand…

And it is all over…since that day…

'_Congratulations, Shikamaru…you are appointed as Higher-assistant of the Hokage.'_

_Gratified and appreciative looks from all those around him, people laughing, congratulating. But the haze lingering on Naruto's face unnerved him and he felt a nagging fear in his mind._

_That evening Naruto took him aside._

' _Shikamaru…I'm sorry. But you must understand.' There was an extraordinarily un-Narutoish look on his face when he said the words in a hesitant manner._

_Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. 'Sorry? What for?' _

_Naruto went on as though he had not heard him. He has become more and more mature after receiving the post of Hokage. 'After the war with the Rock, the Leaf has become very much subdued. We have lost many of our best people. The village…it needs reconstruction…that's why we have to engage you in work like this…'_

'_I understand that of course,' Shikamaru said dismissively. 'But you have something else to say…'_

'_The fact is…' Naruto gulped. 'That you would not be allowed to marry…anybody from another village…' He stopped. _

_Shikamaru's expression went blank._

'Shikamaru?'

Shikamaru shifted his gaze to the doorway.

'Father?'

'Please get ready…OK?'

Shikamaru thought he heard the excited voice of Ino drifting in through the doorway. Mixed in between was Choji's passive reply.

Shikamaru sighed.

'And…' Nara Shikato paused. 'I'm sorry, Shikamaru.'

For a moment, Shikamaru did not move.

'It's OK, father. I guess I'd have to accept.'

-TO BE CONTINUED-

It's so depressing writing this chapter…especially the flashback! And the switching scenes! I didn't want to begin it like this! …and I guess I have too much OoCness here… b

The usual line…r&r plz! I'll get back and update as soon as possible… even though my computer is getting freaky…sweatdrops thx

-hell butterfly


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